By far, the main cause of death of neo-natal calves in the dairy industry, is "scours" or "diarrhea".
It is estimated that twelve million dairy calves (as differentiated from beef calves) are born each year, and that 50% of these neo-natal calves usually develop scours shortly after being taken away from the cow, i.e. after the intake of colostrum or "first milk" is stopped.
Of the calves which develope scours, 40% usually die, and the other 60% which recover, are usually weak and "off" feed, thereby losing as much as one or two months of growth.
Thus, it will be readily apparent that the frequent occurrence of scours in neo-natal dairy calves is a source of considerable expense and trouble to those in the dairy industry.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel composition and method for reducing the incidence of scours in neo-natal ruminants, which is highly effective from the standpoint of almost completely preventing the occurrence of scours in neo-natal dairy calves.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a composition and method which is relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a feed supplement which can be used for the first few days of the feeding of the neo-natal ruminant after the feeding of colostrum milk is stopped, and which includes the preventative composition as well as vitamins and minerals which are physiologically beneficial to the animal.
Yet another object is to provide a milk replacer product which is the sole food source for the neo-natal calf for the first 30 days of feeding and which also includes the aforementioned preventative composition.
We have discovered that the aforementioned objects and advantages are achieved by feeding to neo-natal ruminants, as the first feedings after the intake of colostrum or first milk is stopped, an aqueous mixture containing in the neighborhood of 30 grams of pregelatinized starch, preferably with additional amounts of vitamins and minerals which are physiologically beneficial to the animal.